Gun sport hunting inevitably involves the carrying of a gun for hours at a time. In addition, sport hunting is frequently conducted in treacherous terrain, i.e., hilly or mountainous terrain having thick underbrush vegetation. For these reasons, sport hunting can be a very tiresome activity, especially for persons having a physical handicap such as an artificial shoulder, limb, etc. The more tired a hunter becomes, the greater is the risk of a hunting accident occurring.
Also, most sporting guns have a large recoil force when fired. This recoil force can be dangerous to any person, especially a person with a physical handicap as discussed above. For these reasons, gun slings and vests have been developed which partially support a gun while the gun is being carried and/or fired.
Numerous gun slings and vests are known in the prior art for supporting the lower portion of a gun stock while the gun is being carried or fired. Examples of these prior art gun slings and vests are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 919,301 issued on Apr. 27, 1909 to Anderson; U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,341 issued on Sept. 27, 1932 to Lapham; U.S. Pat. No. 2,520,285 issued on Aug. 29, 1950 to Olson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,246 issued on Apr. 21, 1953 to Olson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,948,449 issued on Aug. 9, 1960 to Aronson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,347 issued on May 23, 1961 to DeNeve; U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,923 issued on Mar. 19, 1963 to Bagby; U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,746 issued on Oct. 24, 1967 to Stumpf; U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,828 issued on Mar. 4, 1969 to Gregson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,109 issued on Sept. 20, 1971 to Brokus; U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,147 issued on Oct. 24, 1972 to Vaughn; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,074 issued on Mar. 4, 1975 to Roach.
These gun slings and vests have numerous disadvantages. For example, many of the prior slings and vests cannot be used by a person with certain physical handicaps involving a person's upper body since the gun must still be fired from the person's shoulder. In addition, many of these prior art slings utilize straps and/or belts which at the least are uncomfortable since the straps and belts tend to dig into the user's body, and may cause sores, especially, if the gun is fired while positioned in the sling. Moreover, many of these prior gun slings and vests are very expensive to manufacture because they are comprised of numerous parts. Further, many of these slings and vests do not adequately support the gun during the carrying and firing of the gun.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need for a gun vest which can be employed by almost everyone, including persons with certain physical handicaps, which reduces the risk of injury to persons wearing the vest and which makes hunting more comfortable and thus safer for all hunters.
This invention addresses this need in the art, along with other needs which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure.